


in sickness and in health

by ObscureReference



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Ambushes and Sneak Attacks, Established Relationship, Fever, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, M/M, Multi, Sick Character, Worry, mistaken for dead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-10
Updated: 2018-11-10
Packaged: 2019-08-21 12:49:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16576820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObscureReference/pseuds/ObscureReference
Summary: “A fever,” Niles announced as he pulled his hand back. He sent Odin an even more displeased look.Or:There's an attack on the camp while Odin is very sick. It's not fun for anyone.





	in sickness and in health

**Author's Note:**

> I listened to a cover of "Don't Forget" from Deltarune on literal repeat the entire time while writing this.
> 
> This is so very self-indulgent, but I hope you enjoy it with me.

“Did you hear me the first two times or are you daydreaming again?”

There was a sharp sound a scant inch from Odin’s face. His eyes snapped open, shoulders jumping in surprise, and he found Niles’s blurry figure standing next to him. Odin blinked rapidly and the blurriness cleared.

Niles frowned and lowered his hand. He’d snapped his fingers to get Odin’s attention, Odin realized.

“Did you hit your head when I wasn’t looking?” Niles asked. The words were humorous, but there was an underlying seriousness to them.

Odin shook his head, ignoring how the movement wanted to make him swaying on his feet. “No, nothing of the sort. I am merely—ah—” He scrambled to think of a proper excuse. His head felt fuzzy and much too warm. “—Merely conversing with the dark spirits that—"

The lame excuses died on his lips as he realized Niles obviously wasn’t listening. Niles ignored the way Odin jerked back when he raised his hand again, pressing the back of his hand against Odin’s forehead. He made a face like he thought Odin was some sort of petulant child.

“A fever,” Niles announced as he pulled his hand back. He sent Odin an even more displeased look.

Odin had figured as such. It certainly explained the throbbing behind his eyes. It also explained why he felt both lightheaded and hot at the same time, why his throat felt raw and swollen. He’d hidden it to the best of his abilities since yesterday evening, but clearly the cat was out of the bag now.

Still, Odin tried his best to deflect anyway.

“Nonsense!” he said loudly. The force of his words made his throat protest sharply. Odin winced but carried on anyway. “Odin Dark is the breaker of curses, the pursuer of dark magic! It would take much more than—Ah.”

Odin had widened his stance to strike a pose and felt himself wobble unsteadily. Niles quickly steadied him with a hand on his shoulder and another unimpressed look.

“Alright,” Niles said. “You clearly cannot be trusted on your own feet. I’ll take us both back then.”

“What?” It took a beat too long for Odin to understand what Niles meant. Then he shook his head, still relying on Niles to keep him from tripping again. “Unacceptable. We must move with stealth and haste within enemy territory.”

“And I don’t think we’ll be accomplishing that anytime soon with the way you’re moving today,” Niles said dryly. “You’ve already alerted every man, woman, and creature within ten leagues of here with the way you stomp through these woods. Why do you think I had you hang back while I investigated the trail?”

Odin flushed. He’d been so grateful that he’d been allowed a brief reprieve out of Niles’s watchful eye that he hadn’t thought about why Niles had suggested he do all the real scouting himself. They were on their way back to report their findings—really Niles’s findings—to Leo. Clearly Niles had known something was up from the start.

“Why didn’t you say anything then?” Odin grumbled, perhaps a bit childishly. He took Niles’s bow and pack of arrows as it was offered to him and laid them across his own shoulders without protest.

Niles gave him a sideways glance. “Why didn’t _you_? You’re a grown man, Odin. I assumed you knew your own limitations.”

Clearly Niles no longer assumed so, which made Odin want to fidget and flush even further.

Niles added, “Though I didn’t realize it was this bad until your mind seemed to live this world for a few minutes.”

His tone was short, but he was right. Odin pressed his lips together and averted his eyes as he climbed onto Niles’s back. He wrapped his arms around Niles’s neck loosely. Niles took his weight without so much as a grunt.

“Sorry,” Odin murmured into Niles’s neck. “There’s just so much to do.”

“And more than enough healthy bodies to do it,” Niles countered.

Odin knew he only fussed so much out of love. Still, he felt embarrassed.

Niles was definitely taller than Odin and could certainly pick him up without much trouble, but like he’d said, Odin was still a grown man. Odin was now carrying his tome and Nile’s weapons as well. Asking Niles to carry Odin the final two miles or so back to camp was a bit of a tall order. Certainly Niles would grow tired before long. When Odin said as much, however, Niles pretended not to hear him. Odin gave into how awful he felt and stopped insisting.

“It’s a good thing you didn’t tell us you were feeling unwell,” Niles said dryly as they began to walk back to camp. “Now Leo and I are sure to catch whatever you have. Thank you for that.”

“No way,” Odin mumbled, giving up entirely on staying in character. His head hurt too much to think properly. “I didn’t touch either of you for like two days.”

Niles was quiet for a moment.

After a few beats, he said to himself, “That does explain a few things.”

Odin wondered what Niles was thinking about but felt too tired to ask. He pressed his warm forehead to Niles’s shoulder and closed his eyes. Now that he wasn’t walking anymore, the ache in his bones stood out even more. The way Odin was jostled with every step Niles took wasn’t exactly comfortable, but the darkness was a welcome friend.

Niles muttered something else, something Odin wasn’t sure if he was supposed to hear or not, but he couldn’t make out the words. Darkness overtook him.

* * *

 

“Amazing,” Leo said, sounding just as unimpressed as Niles had looked earlier. “I don’t think I’ve known you to be sick in all the years since we met. Unless you were hiding it all those times too?”

He raised his eyebrows. Off to the side, Niles looked quite smug.

Odin wasn’t sure he could flush any more. Between the fever and his earlier embarrassment, his face felt like it was in a permanent state of hot. He wondered if this was what Laslow felt like all the time.

“Not at all!” he protested again. “I have not been sick in many an eon!”

His voice cracked, and his throat ached something awful. Leo shook his head and offered him a cup of water. Odin downed it gratefully.

“I’m disappointed that you didn’t tell us how you were feeling earlier,” Leo continued, frowning worryingly. “Both professionally and personally.”

Leo pursed his lips. It wasn’t just the haze of sickness that made Odin feel miserable.

He, Niles, and Leo walked a fine line between professional and personal. They were all together, of course, but he and Niles were still Leo’s retainers first and foremost. That definitely couldn’t change. Not with the war ongoing. Odin wasn’t sure he wanted their relationship to change even _after_ the war.

So when he’d felt himself coming down with a fever, he’d tried to power through it. And when that clearly hadn’t worked, he’d hidden it and tried to carry on with his duties like normal. Odin hadn’t wanted to disappoint them—either of them. He’d never let Leo down before, and he didn’t want to start now. And he hadn’t wanted Niles worrying over him either, even though he knew Niles would have said he did no such thing. Niles was soft at heart. Odin hadn’t wanted to distract either of them at all from the tasks at hand. That’s why he’d accepted with vigor when Leo had sent him and Niles out to scout. He'd wanted to keep up the veil of normalcy.

Obviously his plan hadn’t worked out very well.

“My apologies,” Odin said. “I wanted… I didn’t want to distract you. There is much to be done.”

“And more than enough people to do them,” Niles repeated. “I was Leo’s only retainer long before you came around, remember?”

Odin made an admittedly pitiful sound. His stomach suddenly churned, and he looked to the tent floor out of fear that he might be suddenly ill.

“I cannot fault you for being sick,” Leo said gently, mistaking Odin’s expression for one of further embarrassment. “You’ve certainly seen me under the weather more than once before. Fevers are natural. You wouldn’t have disappointed me.”

He traced the edge of Odin’s jawline with his finger, tilting Odin’s chin up once more. Odin had to blink more than once before Leo’s outline became solid once again. He somehow managed to swallow.

Leo sighed, dropping his hand. His eyebrows were knitted with worry. “Why are we not having this conversation in the medical tent?”

“He insisted on seeing you first,” Niles said, sounding as though he relished Odin’s torture.

Odin sent him a look. Leo cleared his throat.

“Alright,” Odin said, only a little disappointed. He had expected this, and he didn’t feel up to doing much anyway. Still, he offered. “Are you sure there’s nothing—”

“I’d kiss you to make you shut up if I wasn’t already afraid of catching what you have,” Niles cut in as though he hadn’t carried Odin all the way back to camp until they were in Leo’s tent. He put up a good front, but Odin was sure he knew he was doomed already.

The corner of Leo’s lips curled upwards. “He has a point.”

Odin pretended to look offended. “My lord!”

Leo shook his head.

“Go lay down, Odin,” he said. “Rest. Get looked at by somebody with real medical knowledge. Niles and I will visit when you’re feeling more up to it.”

Odin didn’t want to risk making his head swim by nodding, so he didn’t.

“Alright,” he said. “I’ll see you later then.”

Leo nodded. Before Odin even made moves to exit the tent, Niles was already by his side, making sure he could walk without stumbling. He slid his arm around Odin’s shoulders comfortingly.

“I’m not _that_ ill,” Odin protested, though he couldn’t say he minded the company. Two days of purposely trying not to touch Leo or Niles had left him feeling a certain way.

“You say that without knowing exactly how you look,” Niles said, which Odin took to mean he looked pretty bad.

Odin glanced over his shoulder one last time before they left. Leo was watching them go with a frown.

Niles stayed with him until they got to the medical tent, and even then he didn’t leave until a healer hustled over to take Odin personally. It had been quite a while since they’d had a real battle, and there didn’t seem to be any other patients besides Odin in the tent.

As the healer felt Odin’s forehead and gestured for him to sit, Niles sent him a meaningful but unreadable look before leaving. Odin took it to mean he should get better soon.

* * *

 

He awoke to shouts and the clash of metal.

Odin shot up, the now warm washcloth falling off his forehead and onto the floor. Despite the medicine he’d taken earlier, a wave of dizziness washed over him as soon as he sat upright. Or perhaps that was because of the medicine. Odin hadn’t been paying much attention when the healer had insisted he take it.

The healers were all gone now. Odin was alone in the tent. He still felt hot and dizzy and gross, but he knew what shouts like that meant. He recognized those sounds all too well.

An ambush.

The camp was under attack.

Odin threw his legs over the side of the cot and immediately collapsed onto the floor with a grunt. The impact knocked the air out of his lungs.

“Ouch,” he said. Or at least tried to say. It was a little difficult to catch his breath, but he managed after a moment.

Odin pushed himself up on shaking arms and weakly found his footing once more. He wasn’t in any condition to fight. Even he knew that. But he wasn’t going to feign sleep when there were enemies crawling about either. He trusted Niles and Leo would keep each other safe, but if Odin wasn’t prepared, he knew he might find himself on the wrong end of a sword or spell as well.

It was a good thing he stood up when he did, too. Just as Odin turned towards the tent entrance, wondering where everyone had gone and if he had the energy to muster up a bit of magic of his own, he saw the tent flap fly open roughly.

There was no body that he could see pushing the cloth aside, but the cloth moved as though someone had come through anyway.

That could only mean one thing: a Vallite soldier had found him.

It was a bit dim in the tent, and because of that Odin couldn’t see the strange shimmer in the air that accompanied the Vallite undead. It was just his luck to be caught by an enemy he couldn’t see when he wasn’t sure he could even fight yet. He could sense them, though, and Odin would make that be enough. The malicious aura that accompanied those from Valla was unmistakable.

Odin had always enjoyed a good challenge anyway.

Tucking away his worry for Leo and Niles, Odin raised his hands and gathered up what little energy he had left. It was more difficult to do this without a tome, but it wasn’t impossible.

He breathed in deeply through his nose in hopes that it would soothe the churning of his stomach. It didn’t.

Yellow energy cackled to life around him as Odin dizzily spotted a small cloud of disturbed dirt bloom near the floor. Evidence of sudden footsteps. The Vallite soldier was charging.

He fired off the bolt of lightening magic, perhaps a little too early. It hit something, though. The Vallite soldier was tossed back near the entrance of the tent with the force of Odin’s magic. Odin stumbled from the force of his own blast as well. The ache that had somewhat faded from his limbs before now returned full force.

He wanted to say something smug or cool, but Odin’s focus was so nonexistent already that he had to spend all his energy making sure the Vallite soldier didn’t stand up again. Odin stared at the spot near the entrance where he thought they had fallen. Several long seconds passed—long enough for Odin to wobble where he stood and realize his hands were shaking. Sweat had formed on his brow.

Just when he thought that he’d somehow managed to kill the enemy in one hit, Odin saw the dirt shift again. The enemy was standing.

Odin raised his hands to fire off another spell. He gathered up his magic again and felt it fizzle out around him.

“Shit,” he breathed.

There was no time to think. The medical tent did not conveniently contain any axes or swords or other such weapons Odin could use to defend himself. He doubted he could have picked any of them up in his weakened state anyway.

The enemy was charging, and presumably they _did_ have a sword or an axe or some other weapon that they were going to kill him with if Odin didn’t do something very quickly.

The seconds that passed between them felt like an eternity. Odin raised his hands one last, desperate time. He stumbled back as the oppressive aura of the Vallite undead drew closer.

Just he could sense the splitting of the air as the Vallite swung their weapon, Odin felt it. His magic clicked into place. Magic swirled around him.

He fired off a second spell.

This time the blast knocked him off his feet. Magic always had a kickback, and there was a reason that mages liked to keep a bit of distance between them and their enemy. Sick as he was, Odin couldn’t prepare himself properly. He felt the air between them burst like a bubble as the lightening struck the Vallite soldier a second time. The back of Odin’s head glanced off the edge of something hard as he fell.

The impact of his body landing on the compact dirt floor hit him with such a force that Odin didn’t even have the energy to make sure the Vallite soldier had been successfully taken care of this time. In fact, the Vallite soldier faded from his mind entirely. Odin’s world went dark as his eyes slid shut. His mind became a confused, swirling mess of thoughts like _Leo_ and _Niles_ and _feels bad._ Odin’s mouth opened in a silent gasp as his fever and the sore spot on the back of his head pulsed in tandem.

He had no idea how long he laid there, drifting between the world of awareness and sleep. It wasn’t until Odin registered the sounds of the tent flap being roughly pushed aside and heard Leo’s sharp cry of _“Odin!”_ that he registered any time had passed at all.

“Odin!” Leo called again, closer this time. “Oh no.”

Odin felt arms wrap around him, pulling him slightly upright and against Leo’s chest. 

“ _No_ ,” Leo said, his voice strangled. Odin felt Leo push his hair away from his forehead. He didn’t want Leo’s cool fingers to leave his hot forehead. “Odin, can you hear me?”

He realized belatedly that Leo must have fallen to his knees next to him. Odin's head still swam. It felt like a veil of mist separated him from the waking world.

Odin struggled to open his eyes and found that he couldn’t. His voice was stuck in his throat.

“Shit,” he heard Niles say. His voice drew closer as well. “There was a fight here.”

“He was alone,” Leo said. “Where are the healers?”

“I don’t know.” Upset, Odin thought. Niles sounded upset.

Fingers shakily pushed Odin’s hair back again. A pair of lips—Leo’s, Odin thought—pressed against his forehead in a shaky kiss. Leo breathed against his skin and pulled back.

“Odin, _please_ , don’t do this.”

Odin tried to speak again—tried to _move_ , to do anything at all—and failed. Everything felt faraway and fuzzy. He wasn’t even sure if he was breathing or not, and in a distant sort of way, that scared him.

He felt Niles’s calloused hand take Odin’s. Niles pressed his mouth to Odin’s knuckles.

Strained, Leo said, “He’s still warm. If he’s breathing, it must be so shallow—Odin!”

Odin had managed a sound. It wasn’t quite a word, but he somehow managed to open his eyes a moment later. He eventually registered the off-white blur in front of his face as Leo’s shirt and looked up. Leo and Niles both hovered over him anxiously.

“ _Odin_ ,” Niles and Leo both said at the same time.

Leo’s chest wasn’t as hard as it should have been, Odin realized. It wasn’t black either. Leo had been caught without his armor.

They didn’t look hurt, but Odin tried to ask if they were hurt anyway.

He got as far as the “Are—” before coughing.

“Get him up on the bed,” Niles said.

Between the two of them, they managed. Odin found the cold dirt under his back replaced by the feel of sheets before he realized it.

Niles disappeared not a moment later. Odin turned his head to search for him, but Leo’s hand on his cheek pulled Odin’s attention back to him.

“Are you alright?” Leo asked urgently. “Can you speak?”

Odin managed to nod. Then he found the power to actually speak.

“Yes,” he rasped. “I’m—fine.”

It was difficult to get the words out.

Leo’s shoulders slumped in relief.

“Clearly not,” he said, his thumb brushing Odin’s cheek. “But you aren’t dying, and for that I am grateful.”

Odin pressed his cheek further against Leo’s palm as he searched the room for Niles. “Where…”

“Getting a healer,” Leo told him. He glanced towards the doorway. “Or at least finding someone else who will. He’ll be back, don’t worry.”

“Hm.”

Odin shut his eyes. He felt very tired. He was so lightheaded he barely felt connected to his body anymore. It was only Leo’s hand against his cheek and the knowledge he was right there above Odin that kept him remotely grounded.

With Niles gone, it was Leo who threaded their fingers together this time.

“Odin, I…”

Somehow Odin found the energy to open his eyes once more.

“I told you before. If I lost you…” Leo shut his eyes briefly. “I don’t know what I’d do.”

“Sorry,” Odin rasped. He wasn’t sure how this was his fault, but he wanted to make that awful expression leave Leo’s face immediately.

Leo shook his head. “Don’t be sorry. You’re alive. That’s all I could possibly ask for. In fact, _I’m_ sorry for not being there when you needed me.”

“Me too,” Niles said, suddenly reappearing from wherever he had gone. He swam into Odin’s line of sight as he leaned over the cot. “We tried to get here as quickly as we could, but enemies seemed to keep popping out of nowhere. We assumed there would be somebody here keeping watch over the wounded.”

His darkened expression indicated exactly what he thought about the fact Odin had woken up alone.

“That will be amended in the future,” Leo said gently, looking at Niles before turning back to Odin. “When I saw you there on the floor, I thought…”

“We both thought,” Niles said.

They looked at each other without saying exactly what they had thought. Odin knew anyway.

“Well,” Leo said, clearing his throat. His eyes looked the faintest bit damp. “I’m glad, that’s all.”

Odin hummed again. It was the best he could manage, but internally his heart was aching for them both.

The cot shook as Niles crawled into bed with him and felt Odin’s forehead.

“Damn,” Niles said, pulling back. “It feels like your fever has spiked.”

“It probably has,” Leo mused. “Which explains how out of it he looks. How did he manage to defend himself like this?”

“He’s Odin,” Niles said like that was the answer in itself. The cot was small and Niles was practically hanging off the side to fit on it, but despite that, he didn’t make any moves to leave.

“’m sick,” Odin slurred, his eyes slipping shut once more. Probably for the final time. He didn’t think he had the energy to stay awake much longer.

Niles's smile was evident in his voice. “I carried you back here, remember? Whatever you have, I almost certainly have it by now.”

“Myself as well,” Leo said, though Odin wasn’t sure that was strictly true. “So we might as well stay here until another healer arrives. No use going around infecting the whole of camp when we could be here with you.”

That made Odin feel good for reasons he was too tired to name. He just really wanted to be around Niles and Leo right then. He felt better knowing they were in the room with him.

It was Niles who tucked a lock of hair behind his ear and said, “Sleep. We’ll watch over you until the healer arrives.”

“Preferably with more medicine,” Leo added.

“Sleep,” Niles said again.

So Odin did.

**Author's Note:**

> Character A cradling Character B in their arms and crying, "God, please, no, don't leave me, no," _desperately_ as they think Character B is dead is my Absolutely Favorite Thing. Like, 100% my favorite thing. I love it. While I didn't go as far out here as I could have, this was incredibly self-indulgent to write. I wrote the entirety of this fic just to get to that last scene. Odin being sick and carried around and then worried over is a fave. I want to write Niles getting fussed over next. He deserves love and attention too.
> 
> Feel free to leave a comment below or hit me up on my [tumblr!](http://someobscurereference.tumblr.com/) I get a lot of FE14 meta and fic related asks there, so feel free to browse through my "asks" or "fe14" tag for some extra stuff from me and your fellow readers that you may not see over here. Or send in a question of your own if you had one! Thanks for reading!


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